President returns Bill on State Wage Policy

President Dr Mohamed Waheed Hassan Manik has returned the State Wage Policy Bill to the parliament for reconsideration.

A statement released by the President’s Office today states that in the letter sent to Speaker of Parliament Abdullah Shahid regarding the bill, the president noted ten issues highlighted by the attorney general when she was requested for advice on the bill. The president had suggested that the bill be revised in light of the advice of the attorney general.

The president had said that as the purpose of the bill is to standardise the wages and allowance of state employees who are not excluded from the bill, and as article 17 of the bill states that the National Pay Commission is mandated to organise everything related to wages and allowances of state employees; the decision to cancel the articles related to wages and allowances of state employees of institutions formed under other legislations would create legal contradictions, and impose difficulties in enforcing the policies stipulated in the bill on institutions and offices that are not mentioned in the bill.

The president further noted that even though article 14 of the bill states that the Secretariat of the National Pay Commission should be established under Finance Ministry, as article 15 (a) states that the employees of the commission will be decided by Finance Ministry based on the advice of the commission, it is not clear if the employees of the secretariat are part of the civil service or who holds the responsibility of deciding their wages and allowances.

Similarly, the president highlighted that while the wages and allowances of the president, vice president, ministers, parliament speaker, parliament deputy speaker, parliament members, judges, independent commission members, and persons holding independent posts are decided by the parliament, and as their wages and allowances are paid from the state budget, the bill does not describe a reason for excluding them from the bill.

He also noted that the bill lacks a policy on including the wages and allowances of judicial sector employees and parliament employees as part of the responsibility of the Pay Commission, which would be an obstacle to achieving the legal purpose of the bill.